Memories

I have carried this postcard around for about twenty years, moving from office to office and eventually home. I got it in a management training class not long after becoming a Software Quality Engineer. That first morning, our instructor laid out a table-top full of different pictures and asked that we select one that made us think about our jobs. I chose this one.

Co-workers laughed, but there was meaning for me. My job meant understanding what I was doing, knowing what the requirements were, tracking any errors (even anomalies) and paying attention to detail. I fully intended to retire from that very job, even if I wouldn’t be growing a long beard. The instructor was kind enough to let us keep our selection.

I also recognized and respected the responsibilities of the scribe. If you don’t think they did a good job, look at the differences between the Isaiah scroll found in the Dead Sea cave with ones published this week. Then tell me they could not be as similar to those written two thousand years before the Dead Sea Scrolls. Dedicated men preserved those words.

Why, then, would generation after generation after ad infinitum believe they are the only generation to understand mankind’s place in the world? In their desire to make their mark (why does the picture of male dogs marking trees come to mind) in the world mean rewriting what happened in the past?

Makes me think of:

Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set. (Proverbs 22:28)

You see, I believe God meant what He said:

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)

Matthew, Mark and Luke include this:

Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. (Matthew 24:35)

Moses was given explicit instructions:

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. (Deuteronomy 4:2)

At the end, we’re given similar instructions – with consequences:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:18-19)

God’s word is to be taken very seriously.

Yes, I could identify with this post card not only in my work, but in God’s word. It should be studied.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16)

May you enjoy your studies in God’s word as much as I do.